The Fairy Ranch 2nd Edition
by EddingsFan
Summary: The Fairy Ranch is a rehab center run by the Magnolia University Psychology Department in an effort to reform the prison system. Lucy is sentenced to 7 years in prison and is selected for the program. There she meets Natsu the pyro, and together they work towards the healthier future they both want. Somewhere along the way they realize, maybe the future they want is together.
1. Chapter 1

Lucy was beginning to regret her life choices.

Here she was, in the back of a police car, on her way to a rehab center for troubled teens and young adults, looking at a sentence of 7 years with opportunity for parole. As it turns out, beating a guy with a crowbar within an inch of his life is illegal.

Who woulda thunk it?

The DA was willing to drop the blackmail charge in exchange for a guilty plea for the assault, and Father managed to buy off the judge that decided her sentence. After that, they were informed Lucy had been assigned to a special rehabilitation center, "Magnolia's Center for Troubled Young Folk." Lovingly dubbed The Fairy Ranch by those in the underworld. From what Sting told her, the Fairy Ranch wasn't to bad of a place for a member of the Keys to hole up for a bit. One of his 'idols' from his high school was apparently sent there a few years ago (after intentionally burning down their school he said), and seems to like it. Knowing Sting though, his idol is probably just as insufferable as he is. So that doesn't amount to much in the long run, at least when it comes to making new friends.

Lucy shifted slightly in her seat, looking down at her hands. Her black polish was almost gone, her right pointer nail chopped short. It broke sometime before the cops banged down the door to the motel room she was throwing her target around in. It was his third seedy hotel room that week, and she had finally caught up to him. She had been assigned to rough him up, a lesson to others that you shouldn't miss payments when you owe money to Jude Heartfilia.

Her eyes were drawn out the window, her mind back to the present as the car turned down what seemed to be an old gravel road, if the crunching under the tires was anything to go by.

The Fairy Ranch wasn't like a normal rehab center. Instead of the usual high walls and cement pads, this center was participating in a study in conjunction with the Magnolia University's Psychology Department, so it was supposed to be more 'friendly'. Their goal was to revolutionize penitentiaries by altering the participants' behavior instead of just punishing them. Not many people were assigned there, but they apparently wanted Lucy because of her gang-violence related background. It was their goal, they told her father, "To set her on the right path toward being a healthy member of society."

Lucy chuckled at the absolute irony of them telling a gang lord they would set his child back on the straight-and-narrow. It was almost to much to handle. In all fairness to the scientists, she had planned to retire from the gang life soon anyway. She had just graduated high school, and was preparing to go to college to be a writer. The thug life wasn't really for her, no matter how good she was at it. Luckily, a perk of passing through the Fairy Ranch's program successfully (which, from what others said, was no feat to sneeze at) was your record being expunged. However, in order for this to occur, you had to spend your entire sentence there, regardless of parole.

The car drove past what seemed to be a couple horse pastures, bumping along a road that obviously was used infrequently, according to the weeds scraping the undercarriage.

The sound of metal clanging drew Lucy's eye toward the front seat. It had been 7 minutes since they first turned onto what she assumed to be the center's driveway. Through the windshield she could see a tall chain link fence being pulled open by a burly man that had to be at least a head and a half taller than her. They passed through the gate, pulling up to what seemed to be the main building.

Her driver, a man she would later learn was named Reedus, got out of the car, waved to the small group of people slowly walking toward them, and opened her door.

Lucy took a deep breath, and stepped out, ready to meet the people she would be spending the next 7 years with.

 _A.N.: Hello there gypsies! I hope you have been well! This is the first installment of The Fairy Ranch 2.0. As you can see, the story is getting a MAJOR overhaul, but do not fear, it will be better than before._

 _A few changes to note for those coming from the original story:_

 _Lucy won't be as harsh/dark as before. I like the idea of her being a good 'thug' (IDK what to call it, if you have a better term, tell me in the comments) but not really wanting to do that with her life. Like getting a job at your mom's store, but not wanting to take it over when they can't run it anymore... Ya get me? But at the same time, she won't be as happy-go-lucky as she was in the beginning of Fairy Tail. I tend to write Lucy more seriously, because I feel like she is smarter than she lets on. LET THOSE SMARTS SHINE THROUGH GIRL!_

 _NO WEAPONS. I thought good and hard about this, but realistically that wouldn't be a thing with the kinds of crimes involved here._

 _This is not really a song-fic anymore. There are some that will definitely have song recs, but not expressly built in._

 _Gray will be less pissy. He's not really a hot-head unless Natsu is involved._

 _This will be a slower-burn, sorry y'all._

 _Memes will most likely be included. I love my memes._

 _Things that will remain the same:_

 _Natsu will still remain roughly the same. I like his character here._

 _The structure of the Ranch is stupidly similar, with only minor changes._

 _Please keep in mind that I am a college student, and I have off-and-on bouts with health issues/depression, so it can be difficult finding time or motivation to write._

 _Thank you to everyone that came over from the original, or those that are new to the story! :D I hope you stick around and enjoy the madness I have to offer._

 _Until next time,_

 _Rory_

 _P.S.: Yes, I am going through an online-name change/adjustment. I used to be Minerva Monfort. I will go back and forth between that and Rory. Have patience and understanding please._


	2. Chapter 2

Natsu wasn't one to overthink things, he preferred to act on instinct rather than ponder the ramifications of his actions. This isn't to say he was stupid; he was one of the smartest people in his graduating class, especially pertaining to the sciences. But right now, none of that helped, as he stood standing in his doorway, staring at the girl he has had a crush on since he first met her in seventh grade at the End-of-the-Year Crocus Science Fair. They had neighboring booths, so they talked between judges and eager parents passing by. It was the best three days he'd had since his dad passed away two years before. He hadn't had the courage to get her number before the fair ended, so he promised himself that he would go next year, and ask her then.

The next year he searched the entire fair, but she wasn't there. He asked around, and found out she dropped out of school halfway through the year. After some more snooping, he discovered that Lucy's mother had passed away, causing her father to pull her out of school because he wanted to spend more time with her now that it was just them. At the time he was crushed; partially for her, because he knew the pain she was probably going through, and for himself, because the opportunities that he saw with her passed just out of his reach. He had no way to contact her. Less than a year later, he was at The Fairy Ranch, unable to contact anyone from the outside other than family.

Family he didn't have.

But that was irrelevant now, because she was here, in his dorm. In the back of his mind (what was still functioning), he took mental notes of the changes in her appearance. Her hair was longer now, medium length instead of the short bob it used to be. She had a few more piercings now; on her right nostril, an industrial in her right ear, and a second and third set of lobe piercings. She had obviously physically matured, her curves appearing, obvious in her black skinny jeans and white v-neck t-shirt. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

And here he was, standing in the doorway to his tool and exercise equipment covered room with faded bubblegum pink hair tied back in a flame-print bandana, covered in engine grease, a wrench in one hand, and an earbud dangling out of one ear. Looking like an idiot.

How. Embarrassing.

All of this went through his brain in the time it took for Erza to, apparently say his name enough times that she got tired of speaking in a normal tone, and decided to throw one of her boots at his head.

Unfortunately for Natsu, the heel connected squarely with his temple, and he promptly passed out.

 _A.N.: Greeting my lovely gypsies! I hope you're having a great day today._

 _Shout-out to 4evrDorkly17 for reviewing on Chapter 1 and motivating me to write this chapter!_

 _Many thanks to my beawesome beta reader Michael Grimm who helped me realize that the first chapter's ending was totally screwed up, and desperately needed fixing. Chapter 1 has been re-uploaded with the edited version! Please go check that out (especially the ending, good lord it was awful). :)_

 _Sorry the chapter is so short, but this is what I had in me today._

 _Remember, reviews feed the beast!_

 _Catch ya later,_

 _Rory_


	3. Chapter 3

It was days like these Erza wished she would remember to do the breathing exercises her therapist was always having her do, in the actual situations they were meant for. In hindsight, it was a very bad plan to throw whatever (her boot) was in her hand in the general direction of (directly at) Natsu (his head, specifically). At first, she thought it didn't hit him very hard.

As she watched him drop like a stone, she felt guilt eating away at the bottom of her stomach. She had done it again. Lost her temper and hurt someone.

God damnit.

Natsu woke up in one of the hospital beds, a throbbing headache sitting squarely in his temple. He groaned and curled in on himself, reaching a hand up to cradle his temple as his eyes squinted shut against the light searing bright red through his lids. He could smell the cleaner used to clean the on-site hospital, burning his lungs if he breathed to deeply. This was nothing new, but he was surprised by the faint smell of... vanilla... sugar... sunshine... wait. He KNEW that smell!

Lucy was NOT sure how to process the information that Natsu, the nerdy, skinny, bespectacled boy from the science fair, was the same person as the muscular man lying on the hospital bed in front of her. The obvious differences - the industrial piercing that ironically matched hers, the faded pink hair, the increased muscle mass - those weren't what startled her into silence, locked in a surprised eye-lock until Erza's boot had struck home. The overwhelming familiarity when seeing someone you haven't talked to in years, yet you know exactly who they were, and the fear you don't know who they are - that was what struck her dumb. The look in his eyes was the same (though there was less innocence there, that bothered her), the earbud hanging free ever-present to stave off the silence that would trigger his anxiety (she remembered him telling her that her voice was soothing when the fire alarm went off on the second day of the fair, sending him into a panic she talked him down from), and, more than anything else, the constantly being covered in grease was nothing new to her. She could still remember the look on his face when he had hugged her before they went home the first day, leaving smears of grease on her pretty floral dress. The next day she wore more practical clothes, and had worked with him to fix his project when it had inexplicably started fountaining motor oil (he blamed the only other person from his school at the fair, a person Natsu called Ice Princess).

Lucy had plenty of time to mull over this while she sat in an uncomfortable chair, waiting for Natsu to wake up. It was only her first day here, and she had already had enough excitement to last her a week.

First came the meeting with the management of the Fairy Ranch (Mr. Makarov was interesting to say the least, but he seemed a good man), then they gave her a wristband (a location device she assumed), and set her up with an online college, to be registered come fall semester. As it turns out, schooling is mandatory here, and they have a deal with Magnolia University that as long as the study continues, all participants are awarded full scholarships and access to a variety of majors able to be gained primarily online, although lab classes were offered in a side room off the hospital if deemed appropriate by the university and you were able to get Mr. Makarov to sign off on it.

It was noon by the time all of this had been handled, and then she was handed off to her dorm manager, Erza Scarlet. Although they hadn't hit it off right away, Erza warmed up as soon as Lucy mentioned her love for strawberries, and the patch she had at home. They had been discussing the finer points of growing strawberries when they walked into the dorm Lucy would be staying in and, as they say, the rest was history.

Lucy didn't realize she had been spacing out until Natsu made a small groaning noise, and began to move, curling into the fetal position, clutching his head. Lucy went silent, and she would swear until her dying day that Natsu's nostrils flared right before his eyes snapped open before squinting closed in the bright light.

"Luce?"

 _A.N.: Well well well look who we have here... ME! Back from the aether to deliver this chapter!_

 _What is dialogue, amirite?!_

 _This is 100% not edited or betaed, just total 10PM exhaused I-should-be-studying-for-the-finals-next-week-but-I-don't-have-the-energy-so-I'll-just-make-an-update madness._

 _Special thanks to ThatOneFriend-3, FlameDragonHime, and Autori Fantasia for reviewing! Your encouragement always helps, thank you for your time!:D_

 _And a SUPER SPECIAL thanks to 4evrDorkly17, you're always supportive and I appreciate you so much! :D_

 _Remember, reviews feed the beast! ;)_

 _Rory_


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